Letters: Human Trafficking, Dallas Police, Wind Farms, Teacher Salaries

Praise for police workRe: "Massage parlor bust was in works 6 months — Court records reveal information on sting that led to four arrests," Friday Metro & Business story, and "Owner of NFL's Patriots accused," Saturday news story.It's been a big week for major investigations into alleged sex trafficking. The Dallas Police Department and Jupiter (Florida) Police Department responded compassionately to possible human trafficking victims. This is leadership in action from the chiefs down to detectives and officers. Thank you for bringing in trauma-informed service providers to support potential human trafficking victims. Well done.George Lynch, Addison, CEO of Traffick911 A global effort to stop traffickingRe: "Tough on Trafficking — DPD vice unit's new tactics — plus helping victims — is exactly right," Saturday Editorials.I want to thank The Dallas Morning News editorial board for this editorial. As a volunteer for International Justice Mission, I believe that awareness about sex trafficking is vitally important. Thank you for using your platform to spread awareness and advocate for the oppressed, and to Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall for the work she is doing to rescue victims and hold abusers accountable.As gratifying as it is to see this momentum locally, sex trafficking is also a global problem. The rise of the internet has brought with it cybersex trafficking. Victims — typically children — are abused on camera and streamed live to paying customers around the world, with Americans among the largest consumers. Ending this injustice requires a global effort, with the U.S. leading the way.I want to challenge state officials, as well as Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz and the representatives from the D-FW area — especially Kenny Marchant, my congressman — to demonstrate leadership on this issue. Their constituents want to see sex trafficking eradicated once and for all.Jenna Winn, CarrolltonTax breaks for wind farmsI read with interest several readers' letters to the editor about the cap on residential taxes and their effect. It might be interesting for them to know about the huge tax abatements under Chapter 312 that allow massive tax breaks to large industries. Interestingly, over half of the breaks are going to wind farms.This is billions of dollars in lost school revenue going to an industry that employs few people. I read with interest how "green" wind farms are, but yet no one seems to realize their true costs to taxpayers and our educational system. It's massive and adds the burden of additional taxes on those of us who own our homes. It's not the ratepayers that fund the cost of wind energy, it's taxpayers. And the biggest loser is public education in Texas.Barrett Reese, Yantis, Texas Paying for decent salariesRe: "Time to raise teachers' pay — Across-the-board bump is overdue, will help keep good teachers," by Dan Patrick, Jan. 29 Viewpoints.For most, the idea of an $5,000 across-the-board raise for teachers sounds like a move in the right direction, but this raise will not impact a lot of Texas teachers. Many school districts in the state already pay close to that over the Texas base pay. These teachers will see little, if any, raise.As a teacher of 28 years with a master's degree, I have experienced the angst of receiving a salary that is not competitive with other industry workers or others with as much higher education as I have. In effect, any city or state worker who has been on the job for awhile often has better pay and often better benefits. It is unjust that we choose to teach the leaders of tomorrow and are not paid on par with others who hold like educational attainments.So, while the raise seems earnest, it will not benefit many teachers if it is tacked on to the base pay scale. For all Texas teachers to benefit, the raise must be either higher or be given in a different way. Also, all educators I have talked to, as well as administrators, are leery of how it will be funded. One of the only possible ways is for more of the Texas Lottery money to be used for education, like it was originally intended. Alison Karper, Graham Don't base pay on test scoresDoes it make sense to you that we should be rating teacher performance based on student national test scores? Somebody in Austin doesn't understand "cause and effect." The assumption is that if students don't do well on these tests, the teachers and schools must be doing something wrong.In reality, brainpower, with exception, determines how well students will do on these standardized tests. Students with high IQs normally have the inherent ability to learn quicker; store, process and recall information; understand; apply acquired knowledge; solve problems; and think abstractly. But teachers don't get to choose their students.Teachers must accept students assigned to their classrooms. Unfortunately, among these pupils are students who: don't want to be there, don't study, don't care, don't complete homework assignments, don't listen, don't participate in class, can't read, skip class, skip school, are unruly and have parents that are not involved in their education. Students, after all, will do only what they themselves have in mind to do. And further, students are generally unprepared for the classroom and often lack the skills necessary to succeed academically.Teachers should be evaluated based on performance factors in the classroom. Armando Gaytan, Ennis  Continue reading...